Performance Tweaking The Collie (5500) -- Hentges

[caconym]

I've mucked around with OZ 3.5.1,2,3, GPE and Opie, Hentges, and Daniel Steen's Rboot, etc, and my problem is this: They all have features I love, but none of them is as good as all of them. Specifically, I'm talking about performance.

Hentges is the easiest to use and the best initial configuration, but running straight off SD (even with 1Gb) it's just not that quick. Command-line mp3 players skip when playing off the SD (and maybe that's just the speed of the card). Not to mention the fact that I have to rerun ipkg-link every couple of installs to make sure everything's linking the way it should. Seems like the Rboot method (using a disk image) runs faster and eliminates the need for re-linking, but the current OZ kernel (openzaurus.org) won't get me past configuring modules before it craps out. (Guess I'm waiting for 3.5.4...) I'd love to boot into an image from Hentges, but I can't get the image built first. So anyway:

1) How would I transfer my current config into a new disk image? Would copying everything into a loop0 mount give me the exact same stuff? Does the rboot "copy" script get everything it should?

2) Looks like rboot's "modify_init" screws up the altboot init scripts.. should I just skip this step and assume altboot will recognize my new disk image? Does it need to be named something different (jffs.something?) or an FS different from ext2?

3) Is there a better FS than ext2 for speed in a disk image? Does it have to be ext2? Why is jffs preferred in the initrd? Does it work better on flash RAM?

4) Would there be any advantage to be gained by creating an additional image for a swapfile (per dropbear)?

I know all the things I'm mulling are really just ways to push the 5500 beyond it's hardware limitations, but someone has to have figured these out by now...

Thanks to all for your help, I've gotten tons of solid advice from the board in the past and you guys (esp Mickey and Mattias) make one hell of a user community.

Caconym
[SL 5500 currently Oz 3.5.3 a la Hentges
32Mb Sandisk CF
1Gb Sandisk SD
Spectrum24 Wifi (802.11b)]

[lardman]

3) Is there a better FS than ext2 for speed in a disk image? Does it have to be ext2? Why is jffs preferred in the initrd? Does it work better on flash RAM?

jffs2 performs wear leveling and is also a compressed filesystem.

You could try overclocking...


Si

[caconym]

You could try overclocking...

I didn't think OC'ing a 206mhz would make a huge difference. I've had a PIII 333 up to 600 (stable), but since there's no fan or extra cooling in a Z i'm a little worried about burnout. Experiences?

[lardman]

I've never done it - my interest is more along the lines of under-clocking to improve battery life, but I understand it's possible.

There were posts about it a while back on the forum, a search should turn them up.

Another little question - I presume you're running a 64-0 kernel? If not, I would do to give your Z more RAM to cache things in, etc.


Si

[caconym]

Another little question - I presume you're running a 64-0 kernel? If not, I would do to give your Z more RAM to cache things in, etc.

Yup, Hentges (latest) 64-0.

[abject]

[...]
Hentges is the easiest to use and the best initial configuration, but running straight off SD (even with 1Gb) it's just not that quick. Command-line mp3 players skip when playing off the SD (and maybe that's just the speed of the card).
[...]
[SL 5500 currently Oz 3.5.3 a la Hentges
32Mb Sandisk CF
1Gb Sandisk SD
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Hunh. I'm enjoying a big ol' pile of MP3s, skip-free with the GUI-based XMMS (which should perform worse than any CLI player) that was included in my Hentges 3.5.3 ROM (Nice, nice work, Coredump!).

Legend has it that SanDisk SDs do not play nicely with 5500s. Maybe try a different brand of SD card - borrow one from a friend or something.

- Ab

[caconym]

Legend has it that SanDisk SDs do not play nicely with 5500s. Maybe try a different brand of SD card - borrow one from a friend or something.

Damn. Never would have thought of that. That would explain *most* of my issues, since I'm running (as much as possible) off of the SD card. Shyte. Is there a preference of brand? Any of them stand above the rest?

Thanks again,
Caconym

[abject]

[...]Is there a preference of brand? Any of them stand above the rest?
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Somewhere on the [a href=\"http://zaurususergroup.org/]ZUG website[/url] there's a review of many SD cards - maybe the reviews section? They're still recovering from the power outage in LA this afternoon, so I couldn't find the exact link, at the mo'.  

Almost anything but SanDisk, IIRC.

Sorry.

--

p.s. - Also, make sure it's mounted...

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async,noatime ...for speediest access. A little risky, yes, but worth it, especially considering the platform. Judicious use of...

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# sync ... helps to mitigate the risk of using async I/O.